Affiliates of CriticalPoint Capital LLC (CPC) announced it has completed the merger of the recently acquired Shoes.com business with CPC’s existing platform Running Specialty Group, operator of the JackRabbit, Olympia Sports and Clever Training footwear and athletic specialty retailers.
CPC said the combination creates a specialty footwear platform with a wide range of branded footwear, apparel and athletic offerings catering to its customer base while capitalizing on its distinct e-commerce sites and physical footprint of approximately 130 retail stores across the U.S. Shoes.com, JackRabbit, Olympia Sports and Clever Training (together, “RSG”) will continue to operate under their respective banners while benefiting from a core infrastructure and shared services operating model focused on better serving and connecting with consumers.
Affiliates of CPC first entered the footwear industry in early 2017 with the acquisition of JackRabbit. JackRabbit subsequently bolstered its presence in the active lifestyle category later that year, through a joint venture with Rogue Training (now Rogue Running), and again in 2018 with the addition of Clever Training. In 2019, JackRabbit welcomed the Olympia Sports brand, adding stores in the Northeast U.S. while also serving online customers. Shoes.com marks CPC’s latest investment in the category, which it acquired from Walmart in October of 2020.
“We are excited about the integration of Shoes.com into our family of specialty businesses as it further expands our product portfolio while providing customers greater access to top-tier brands through our full-service stores and powerful digital platform,” said Bill Kirkendall, CEO of RSG. Bill further commented, “With strong positions in each of our targeted markets, we believe Shoes.com is an important addition to the RSG platform. We are very enthusiastic for what the new combination entails, including increasing support and scale, enhancing our key capabilities, and expanding distribution points across the nation, while providing an attractive future for everyone involved including our employees, customers and vendors.”
“The integration of Shoes.com creates a truly unique multi-channel platform to house the best brands in footwear and to service today’s active lifestyle consumer,” Brad Holtmeier, partner at CPC added. “Together, the companies can capitalize on each of their brand’s market leadership, vendor relationships and operational, distribution and marketing capabilities to drive higher revenue growth and profitability than any of the companies could independently accomplish.”
Photo courtesy Shoes.com
